First timer Kitchen Tiler here...please help

Actually Im not much with home improvement at all, but I'd like to start this summer. Kids are with granny all summer, so I have some spare time. I've attached some pics of a portion of my kitchen. I want to replace the tiling. What do I need to buy to replace. Any experienced onces out there? Thanks for any help!!!

It doesnt look like plywood from the picture, which it should be. Can the whole top be removed and replaced with plywood and cement board. We can walk you through the assembly of the new but only you can determine if the old stuff can come out.

In a nut shell I would put 3/4" ply with another 1/2" on top of that then the 1/4" cement board then the tile. I would also change the rounded profile on the corner to one that is a 45 degree angle. Otherwise you will have to deal with small pieces to make the turn on the radius.

In the photos it looks like you have particle board, or mdf base for your countertop - if so replace it.

Also looks like someone used MASTIC to apply this tile which is wrong (despite what they tell you at the big-box store).

A countertop should be set in thinset mortar overtop of a scratch coat/bed. Forget about using cement board, especially 1/4" that's just a waste of inappropriate materials.

Use plywood, a membrane, wire lath and apply a scratch coat (real tile guys call this a "mud bed") or combine the step of membrane and lath in one using a product like ditra (scheuster). Then install your tile on thinset mortar (NOT MASTIC), let cure, then grout. Find your bull-nose tile in advance - some manufacturers also make wedge bull-nose caps to work with certain radiuses. Fashion your new base countertop radius to match the tile you can find.

There is a really great web site and forum hosted by a great tile guy named John Bridge. Use your internet search engine to find it. The folks there are legit REAL tile folks (mud men/women) and will give you the real advice you need not regurgitated Big Orange and Big Blue Bull Crap (gotta do it over and over and over again every few years crap work) advice.

Cement board is NOT waterproof, neither is grout no reason to use it on a countertop - especially this one dividing the rooms (with KIDS! too likely one of them my CLIMB up on it - 1/4" cement board will just crush and break up no reason to use it on a horizontal plane like this (a shower ceiling perhaps, NOT HERE!!!! You want a waterproof seal between your tile field and your cabinets below. Do it RIGHT this time and you'll not have to do it over again.

A mud bed is not a scratch coat over wire lath. That is not recognized as a proper setting bed by any Tile trade association, or training center, both union or private, in the US. In the Tile Council of North America's handbook for Ceramic Tile Installation, method C511-07 describes installing tile on a countertop and calls for a mud bed that is of 3/4" to 1" thick over 3/4" plywood, properly prepared and installed. On a floor the bed would have to be between 1 & 1/4" to 2" thick.

Cement board is perfectly fine over plywood on a countertop. The idea that it will crush is plain flat wrong. It is used on floors under tile ALL the time where there is much more weight applied than a countertop will ever see. The handbook endorses this type of installation under method # C513-07 and as well shows it used on the face of the counter. A properly applied waterproofing membrane is applied to the plywood surface and edges that will be exposed to water or moisture.